The Bureau of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China (Taiwan) hereby acknowledges receipt of your eVisa application, as well as related fee payment (if applicable).

We will begin processing your application shortly. You will be notified by email of the decision concerning your application as soon as possible.

"It takes far less effort to find and move to the society that has what you want than it does to try to reconstruct an existing society to match your standards." - Harry Browne, How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World

It looks like the whole process for applying for a visitor visa or tourist visa to Taiwan for a Filipina can be done all online now, without the need to visit the Taiwan embassy in Manila. See below. This means it should be easy for me to bring my son to visit Taiwan now!

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Republic of China (Taiwan) has announced that starting from October 7, 2016, Philippine passport holders who wish to travel to Taiwan are now eligible to apply for an E-visa (online visa). This simplified visa policy will facilitate the processing and save applicant's time, traffic hassles, and economic cost. The applicant doesn’t need to physically appear in the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in the Philippines.

Philippine passport holders who intend to visit Taiwan for the purpose of tourism, business, visiting relatives, attending international conference and participating in sport events can apply for the e-visa (with the required non-refundable fee by credit card payment). When an e-visa application has been approved, applicants are required to present the print-out of e-visa at the immigration checkpoint for verification upon arrival in Taiwan. An e-visa will be valid for 3 months upon approval with duration of stay up to 30 days.

The e-visa policy will be put on a trial basis for 1 year. Visitors may still file for their visa application at Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in the Philippines.

Moreover, since September 1, 2016 Taiwan has eased its visa-free requirements for Filipinos who possess one of the following documents issued by Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, any of the Schengen countries, the United Kingdom, and the United States: (1) a valid resident or permanent resident card; (2) a valid entry visa (electronic visa included); or (3) a resident card or visa that has expired less than 10 years prior to the date of arrival in Taiwan. Successful applicants are qualified to apply for the ROC (Taiwan) Travel Authorization Certificate which allows multiple-entries to Taiwan valid for 3 months with every stay up to 30 days.

Through the implementation of these two visa relaxing measures launched by the ROC (Taiwan) to the Philippine nationals, it is expected that it will greatly enhance the convenience of traveling between Taiwan and Philippines, and further promote bilateral economic, cultural and other exchanges between the two countries.

"It takes far less effort to find and move to the society that has what you want than it does to try to reconstruct an existing society to match your standards." - Harry Browne, How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World

Check this out. Here's how Angelo can apply for a Taiwan passport. Most of it is simple and straightforward. However, the part about showing his parents' marriage certificate seems to be a requirement, not an option. It assumes I am married to his mother and doesn't consider the possibility that I may not be. Typical square Taiwanese mentality and assumption. lol

"It takes far less effort to find and move to the society that has what you want than it does to try to reconstruct an existing society to match your standards." - Harry Browne, How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World

Winston wrote:Check this out. Here's how Angelo can apply for a Taiwan passport. Most of it is simple and straightforward. However, the part about showing his parents' marriage certificate seems to be a requirement, not an option. It assumes I am married to his mother and doesn't consider the possibility that I may not be. Typical square Taiwanese mentality and assumption. lol

"This is all because the China's new unfriendly policy toward Taiwan new elected president for not complying with the vague deal between KMT and China that China discourages its people from visiting Taiwan. Taiwan has to find other ways to bring more tourists in. This includes all South Asia countries. So this is the good chance to bring Dianne and Angelo here.

Your case with Dianne and Angelo is out of norm. Therefore you have to find other way and apply Angelo Taiwan passport in special case and in person."

"It takes far less effort to find and move to the society that has what you want than it does to try to reconstruct an existing society to match your standards." - Harry Browne, How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World

We are back from Taiwan now. My son and Dianne enjoyed the beauty, fresh air, polite people, infrastructure, clean safe streets, and good quality delicious food in Taiwan. However, they didn't like that people looked very uptight and overly serious and stern there. So I'm not the only one. Even my son, with his very limited experience in life, could see the obvious. His first question in Taiwan was, "Why did that girl at the customs line look so emotionless like she wasn't even alive?" lol.

What's more, some Taiwanese were rude and yelled at us for on reason. One lady in the park at a videoke center outdoors yelled at me just because I asked her which animal snatching arcade machines were on and which were off, because I didn't want to put coins in those that were off. She rudely told me that I should be able to tell and not put any coins in any machines that are off. It was no cause for her to get rude, but that's just part of her personality I guess. Some Taiwanese talk like that. But no one in the Philippines would yell over something like that. Another time, when we were on the way to the airport, the shuttle bus driver yelled at us for no reason. I stashed our luggage in the center and waited for Dianne and Angelo to do the same, as I was supposed to. But somehow the driver felt the need to be rude and say "hurry up and sit down" for no reason. There was no rush and I wasn't moving slowly. Very weird. I told him off and said "You give Taiwan a bad name you know that!" Then an English speaking Taiwanese girl on the bus apologized on his behalf and told me that that's just the normal way he talks so it's nothing personal. I told her I'm sick of all the friggin travel websites and blogs saying how everyone in Taiwan is "oh so wonderful and oh so friendly!" (sarcastic fake tone of my voice) and how I wish travel sites would be more HONEST like me. I"m sick of all the lies online.

I told my parents about this, and my mom rationalized it away and said "Well if the lady yelled at you, then you probably asked a stupid question." My mom is narrow too and refuses to admit that Taiwanese are rude. Sheesh. Even my parents are not honest truth seekers who are willing to tell it like it is. My older cousins like Alice Lai also refuse to admit that Taiwanese are rude. They feel the need to believe that ALL Taiwanese are "oh so friendly and oh so wonderful!" because it's a cult religion for Taiwanese believe that. lol. Very friggin weird.

"It takes far less effort to find and move to the society that has what you want than it does to try to reconstruct an existing society to match your standards." - Harry Browne, How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World

What did people in Taiwan say about you for having a Filipina wife / girlfriend?

You just don't see that many Filipinas married to Taiwanese men. I guess Chinese and Vietnamese women would be much better able to appreciate their old-fashioned, stern, narrow-minded mentalities lol.

Or maybe you didn't get any opinions haha. I walked around with my Indonesian girl in Taiwan, and no one seemed to care or say anything, even though it's not exactly a very common sight in Taiwan. They don't even try to acknowledge you. They just said "hello" or "excuse me" to her once in a while. I also asked a girl in Ximending if girls in Taiwan would be willing to hold all those heavy shopping bags by themselves, like what my girl was doing; she simply said that's rare.

If you walked around in China, I'm sure the locals would be curious and give you their free, if not politically incorrect, thoughts about having a Filipina wife.

I heard that the reason is because relations between mainland China and Taiwan have not been good lately. So China is thwarting millions of Chinese tourists from going to Taiwan, thus causing a big loss in Taiwan's tourism industry. Thus Taiwan is trying to make up for it by allowing tourists from Southeast Asia easier access to visit Taiwan as tourists.

"It takes far less effort to find and move to the society that has what you want than it does to try to reconstruct an existing society to match your standards." - Harry Browne, How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World

I posted this question for the author of the blog in the comments section:

Dear Philly,
I have a question for you. I am an Asian American Expat in the Philippines and an American citizen. I would like to bring my long time girlfriend here, whom I've known for 10 years, to America with me on a tourist visa to visit the National Parks in the Southwest USA on a nature tour. Now the thing is, we have a child in the Philippines, and I've known her for 10 years and can vouch for her character and integrity, and I've brought her to travel in two other foreign countries - Hong Kong and Taiwan - in the past and she never overstayed her visa there.

So even though she has no income from work, except for a few hundred dollars in support per month from me, and a small bank account, does she stand a good chance of getting a tourist visa to the USA? The two things in her favor are:

1. We have a child together in the Philippines, who will stay behind in the Philippines and not come with us. Soon he will be a US citizen because I am applying for his US citizenship as well. Doesn't the fact that we have a child in the Philippines assure the US embassy that she will return?

2. I brought her to Hong Kong and Taiwan in the past as a tourist, and she returned both times and did not overstay her visa. I can prove this from her passport stamps, and many photos of us there as well. Does this fact help convince the US consulate that she will return from the US, since she's returned from other foreign countries in the past, thus establishing more credibility?

Also, what if I write an invitation letter and promise to pay all her travel expenses and give them our itinerary? Furthermore, my family has two houses in the US too. Is my support and guarantee enough? Especially since I've known her for 10 years and can prove this in many photos from the last 10 years?

What do you think? I searched your comments section and this situation hasn't been asked yet.

"It takes far less effort to find and move to the society that has what you want than it does to try to reconstruct an existing society to match your standards." - Harry Browne, How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World

"It takes far less effort to find and move to the society that has what you want than it does to try to reconstruct an existing society to match your standards." - Harry Browne, How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World